Rice: Sen. Brophy almost has it right

Jeff Rice, Journal-Advocate columnist

Posted:
02/04/2013 01:04:14 PM MST

Jeff Rice

Colorado Sen. Greg Brophy (R-Wray) will be stunned when he learns that he and I agree on something. Greg and I have clashed repeatedly in the past, mostly over what I view as his allegiance to the right wing fringe and his unrepentant support of torturing "terror" suspects. So it was with some surprise that I learned of Greg's latest attempt to knock some common sense into the Colorado Revised Statutes.

Sen. Brophy has proposed a new law that would allow young people 18 and older to drink alcohol with their parents under certain circumstances. The generally accepted genesis of the bill was a dinner at which Brophy and his wife celebrated their daughter's 20th birthday but were distressed to realize that said daughter could not even have a glass of wine with dinner. So the assumption is that the new law would cover restaurants and other public venues, as long as the "minor" was accompanied by parents.

Of course, opposition to the bill has come out of the woodwork, most prominently in the form of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, which has, over the past two decades, gone from being a driving force behind drunken driving reform to its current role as irrelevant cultural scold. There is some credible opposition, however, in the form of the Colorado Restaurant Association. The CEO of that group reportedly has serious misgivings about the onerous burden Brophy's bill will place on restaurant owners. Most restaurant owners also are owners of Colorado liquor licenses, which are got by a byzantine process that rivals the Court of the Queen of Hearts.

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If you doubt the puritanical roots of all that is American, attend a hearing of your local city council when it sits as a "liquor board." Cotton Mather would blush at the self-righteousness of the average council member when considering licensure of spirits.

Still, Meersman has a point. Who is a minor's parent? The question goes to the heart of the definition of family. Does a foster "child" who is 19 qualify if celebrating her birthday with foster parents? Is any legal guardian considered a parent? Would the guardian have to present papers proving such guardianship? The problems are myriad, and for that reason alone, Brophy's law is probably doomed.

Greg might have gotten the CRA's endorsement, however, if he'd been bold enough to go the distance on his proposed legislation. The answer is obvious: Simply lower the drinking age to 18. The arguments against such a law are illogical and steeped in emotion and superstition. Arguments in favor of it, on the other hand, are completely rational.

For instance, the U.S. Government has decided long ago that 18-year-olds are mature enough and smart enough and wise enough to vote for president, mayor, state senator and other offices of similar gravity. Said government has decided that 18-year-olds are mature enough to fight and die or become forever maimed in combat in service to their country. The states have decided that people even younger than 18 are mature enough to marry and have children, to work for an adult's wages, to be tried as an adult for crimes they commit. In fact, in every aspect of life in America, the magical age of adulthood is 18. Well, in every aspect except one. At an age when every nation in Europe teaches its citizens to drink responsibly, we Americans still treat our 18-year-olds like children.

It's time to recognize that the true age of adulthood, in all aspects, is not 21, but 18. It is time to allow wounded 19-year-old combat veterans returning from America's wars to enjoy a drink at the local American Legion. It is time to allow college students to have wine with dinner. It is time to allow all of America's voters to hoist a glass in celebration or in sorrow on election night. It is time to catch up with the world.

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